Jack Ross shares 'positive' Marc McNulty injury update after Sunderland striker's hamstring injury

The Reading loanee was withdrawn in the second half of the 2-1 win over Portsmouth with a hamstring problem, which will rule him out of the trip to Spotland.

And while Ross still believes the 27-year-old will be absent for a number of weeks, he is hopeful that his recovery may be accelerated after seeing positive signs just two days after the injury was sustained.

Indeed, the Sunderland has revealed that the injury was a ‘relatively minor’ one and that there is hope he will return earlier than initially scheduled.

The striker will continued to be monitored as the week progresses, with the Black Cats facing a hectic fixture schedule in the coming weeks – with four games in a fortnight.

“He’ll miss tomorrow evening,” confirmed Ross.

“He possibly might miss a couple of weeks, but then he looked positive today so hopefully he might be back sooner than expected. It’s still fairly early.

“It’s a hamstring injury, a relatively minor one, but he’ll miss tomorrow evening and then we’ll see how the rest of the week goes for him.”

Charlie Wyke and Will Grigg will be in-line to replace McNulty at Rochdale, with the former having impressed off the bench in cameos against Accrington Stanley and Pompey in the past week.